Aromatic-aromatic interactions enhance interfiber contacts for enzymatic formation of a spontaneously aligned supramolecular hydrogel.

ABSTRACT: Anisotropy or alignment is a critical feature of functional soft materials in living organisms, but it remains a challenge for spontaneously generating anisotropic gel materials. Here we report a molecular design that increases intermolecular aromatic-aromatic interactions of hydrogelators during enzymatic hydrogelation for spontaneously forming an anisotropic hydrogel. This process, relying on both aromatic-aromatic interactions and enzyme catalysis, results in spontaneously aligned supramolecular nanofibers as the matrices of a monodomain hydrogel that exhibits significant birefringence. This work, as the first example of monodomain hydrogels formed via an enzymatic reaction, illustrates a new biomimetic approach for generating aligned anisotropic soft materials.

SUBMITTER: Zhou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3986011 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature